"The leader of the fourth-largest church in the U.S. is supposed to be part of a 'new breed' of evangelicals, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and dozens of other publications," wrote Naomi Schaefer Riley in the Journal's Aug. 23 edition. "New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof paid him what Mr. Kristof might consider the ultimate compliment earlier this year, referring to Mr. Warren as an 'evangelical liberals can love.'"

Reporters, however, mistakenly assume that "new breed" Christians who care about the environment and poverty don't care as much about traditional Religious Right issues such as abortion, Warren said.